Great Smoky Mountain National Park: McGee Springs & Hyatt Ridge

The eastern end of the Great Smoky Mountains National Park are high,wet, and wild. This 'stitched' photo takes in the view from the Foothills Parkway of the Smokies that reaches from the eastern boundary and Mt. Cammerer (shown here with a crown of clouds on the left side of the photo) over to the cloud-shrouded heights of Mt. Guyot and Old Black, nearly 16 miles to the west.
The long deep valley near the center of the photo holds the Cosby campground and the Low Gap trail climbs from the campground up to the Appalachian Trail on the main spine of the Smokies. Cosby Knob is the high, dark peak just to the right (west) of Low Gap on the horizon. Low Gap is hidden behind the slope of Rocky Face Mountain, but you can spot where the main ridge dips towards the Gap on both sides.
To the west of Cosby campground, you can spot a low rounded mountain - Gabes Mountain. The Gabes Mountain trail, now part of the Old Settlers trail, traverses the northern slopes of Gabes Mountain, passing Henwallow Falls along the way.
Dark clouds cover the peaks of Mt. Guyot and Old Black, both of which tower over 6,000 feet. Peter and I were headed to the western end of the Park for a few days of high country backpacking, and the clouds were an omen of what we'd be facing on Gregory Bald later in the day. Though it was past the middle of May, snow and sleet had blanketed the high country of the Great Smokies several times during the past week, and would sweep in again to ice our tents at Sheep Pen Gap, just below the top of Gregory Bald.